Avena Botanicals Milk Thistle supports liver, digestive, and overall health.*
Milk Thistle is an herb that thrives in the Mediterranean region of the globe and belongs in the category of essential herbs for the modern world. The liver does so much to process what we encounter daily, from various environmental toxins, pesticides, xenoestrogens, alcohol, and drugs, to our biological wastes like those caused by excess stress. Milk Thistle supports vibrant liver function and rejuvenation, helping to keep the liver cool and relaxed.
Healthy liver function means that many aspects of general wellness and vitality are also supported, including healthy hormone balance, skin health, digestive health, mood, and immune system health. A most gentle herb, Milk Thistle promotes healthy liver cells and boasts high levels of silymarin, a compound that supports healthy glutathione levels, which creates a healthy oxidative response in the body. Milk Thistle helps to both protect and encourage healthy liver function.
Garden Notes: Our founder, gardener Deb Soule, was inspired to plant more Milk Thistle in our Biodynamic gardens after seeing it growing in the fields in Sicily. Students often comment on the uniqueness of its large fleshy, green, and white mottled leaves with lovely, purple thistle-like flowers.
Taste / Energetics: cooling, relaxing, protective, regenerative, slightly sweet, slightly bitter.
Actions: demulcent, hepatoprotective, hepatic, antioxidant.
When to reach for it: Periods of time of increased exposure to environmental toxins. Puberty and other times of natural hormonal shifts; post-partum and menopause. To support skin health. To accompany an intentional seasonal or hormone balancing diet.
Botanical Name: Silybum marianum
Part Used: Seed
Ingredients: Certified Organic Milk Thistle seed dried, Certified Organic Pure Grain Alcohol, Springwater
Suggested Use: Add 20 drops (1ml) to 1 ounce of water 2 to 3 times per day as suggested by your healthcare provider.
Avena Botanicals values simplicity and the traditional ways of hand-crafting herbal products. They use simple tabletop tools instead of large, mechanized machines and they do not mass-manufacture.
This holistic and spiritually alive system of organic agriculture enlivens the soil, water, and plants along with the soul, spirit, and consciousness of humans. Biodynamic preparations and practices create herbal products that can benefit body, mind, and spirit and connect individuals to the source of their sustenance.
Since their inception in 1985, they have used no synthetic ingreidents, additives, or solvents of any kind in their herbal products or farming practices. Their on-site production facility only uses 100% biodegradable cleaning supplies.
Avena's products are produced on-site in their custom-built facility. You can take an herb walk through their gardens in the summer, while seeing smellIing baskets of herbs and flowers going into the facility, it doesn't get any more local than this.
Creating gentle, organic, high-quality herbal products that promote good health is their goal. They produce their products in small batches to ensure that their freshness and efficacy meet their high standards.
Avena's gardens are open to the public for a few select events each year. They are a peaceful sanctuary for people (and pollinators) to enjoy, learn in, and experience the gifts of nature. They host a handful of herb walks, classes, and retreats each summer, often accompanied by refreshing botanical sun tea.
These values remain constant in their thoughts, words, and actions. They care deeply about the health and well-being of the people and plants they serve and take extra care as they harvest the herbs and create products.
Despite the modern world's technological advances, many people around our planet remain unhappy and disconnected from nature. Avena's peaceful gardens, retreats, and hand-crafted herbal products assist people seeking to live in harmony with nature and with the spirit that connects all living beings.
They aim to create a working environment that embodies balance, health, and wellness. They ring a bell at noon for any staff who chooses to stop and meditate for 5-10 minutes. Their weekly staff meetings are held outdoors in summer and in a room overlooking the garden in winter. As a staff, they share yummy potlucks, birthday cakes, inspiring books, and garden walks.
Avena Botanicals is the first Demeter Certified Biodynamic farm in Maine. Biodynamic agriculture is a holistic and spiritually alive system of organic and ecological practices and philosophies based on the teachings of Dr. Rudolf Steiner. One of the core beliefs and practices of Biodynamic agriculture is to help heal the Earth.
Their hand-gathered herbs come into Avena's drying rooms and are immediately weighed and laid onto large screens. Most of these herbs are grown in Avena's three-acre gardens. They also collect a few herbs from nearby islands and meadows.
Over five hundred pounds of fresh, hand-gathered herbs come into Avena's apothecary annually and are thoughtfully prepared into herbal tinctures, elixirs, glycerites, and oils. Over 70% of these herbs come directly from Avena's Demeter Certified Biodynamic gardens. Their herbs are fresh, aromatic, sweet, bitter, pungent, and beautiful.
Avena's gardens have been purposefully planted with protective hedgerows and flowering plants that offer nectar and pollen to dozens of pollinators. Shimmering ruby-throated hummingbirds and various butterflies, honey bees and native bees fill our gardens with an array of colors, sounds, and personalities. The presence of pollinators fills hearts with joy and gratitude.
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.